All hail our two new prediction champions. Ya, we ended up with two. Both ended up with the same raw score for their Super Bowl prediction and neither submitted a tiebreaker. I am not one to parse intent like a Constitutional scholar when no clarity on the rule(s) exists, therefore I have named both Stupifyed and Str8Balr winners. Congrats for winning the Prediction Contest. All of us look forward to the awkward dual acceptance speech.

Also a congratulations to our BIT winner leaping_larry. No playoff birth this year but he got his revenge in the playoffs. Also honorable mention again to manraj7 for winning the regular season although the competition committee has vowed to never let that happen again.

Sorry the late results, scheduled myself four times to get this done and each time a bit of emergency came up. Glad to finally have this pseudo-jinx post off my back.

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I apologize for the delay. I figured the fan post area would need a few days to cool down after the bitter loss. Even the last result recap was bumped within 24 hours with as predicted more repeat it's like '81 rehash fan posts. As much as I hated the ubber annoying, constantly repeating, surface level nostalgia like '81 fan posts it wasn't crying kids over the 49ers loss and Kyle Williams. Instead of real parenting, like using the opportunity to warn kids this is what happens when Kyle Williams doesn't eat his vegetables, let's queue up the social media and get some youtube/twitter hits. Worst yet is the positive feedback given back to these people. Grant Cohn gave better advice to Kyle Williams than that kid. To paraphrase, you are now a marginal receiver with nothing to contribute on special teams, good luck making any NFL roster next season Kyle ... feel better?

Oh well, not the first and last time I've had to deal with 49ers fans soppy reactions this week. Instead of answering or not answering a question, Harbaugh rants how "feeling" questions must a California sissy thing. A few writers take Harbaugh to task for his response and overall response to media all season. Maiocco furbishes a tears story out of a split second eye rub. I don't need a survey to know which story 49ers fans took hook, line and sinker. Then there is this quote, "Hurt but not slain, lay down and bleed awhile, then we'll rise and fight again." Its a nice quote and everyone wants to provide a historical background on it's origin. Another little historical tidbit on this quote, Marv Levy used it after the Bills crushing lose in Super Bowl XXV than rode it to three more crushing Super Bowl defeats. Feels great to be a 49ers fan heading into the off-season! Back seat in the draft, not resigning own free agents, small hands talk, Crabtree attitude psychologists, 3-4 1st/2nd picks in everyone's 49ers mock draft dropping to mid/late rounds ... thank God Kenny Powers and Game of Thrones is almost here.

Moving on. Congrats to our Super Bowl contestants: Str8Balr, Stupifyed, AKinferno and howtheyscored. Next week is the championship. Fooch will pick some sort of extra tiebreaker based on yards so pay attention. How did AKinferno return from the dead? He found a scoring error in his favor. He also pointed out the 49ers should have kept handing the ball off to Frank Gore and maybe that is why Harbaugh was teary eyed the next day. The NFL is going to crown their worst Super Bowl Champion in the modern era next week but we are going to crown one impressive prediction champion.

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Now you are going to see someone not named Donte Whitner knockout four chumps with one hit. Seriously he knocked a guy completely unconscious before he even hit the ground and very little attention has been given to this. A few plays earlier he knocked out Jimmy Graham for the 1st concussion ever to be classified as a back injury. I guess the head is attached to the spine but shame on you Saints for skirting the rules. I know back injuries, my head isn't up my back, he had no back injury.

The Elite Eight (trademark issue?) have advanced to the Championship Round this weekend with the Final Four (trademark issue?) going Survivor Series (trademark issue?) in the Prediction Super Bowl (trademark issue?) in two weeks. I have a bunch of random thoughts with no paragraph justification so I'm breaking out bullet point style:

• I had to search the website for last week's Predictions because everyone was Fan Posting their '81 season comparisons. This is the exact red and gold equivalent of Giants '07 season comparisons ... did you catch that hint? Stop! If any season should be compared this week it is '90 with the Championship Game. At Candlestick, wet sloppy field, two defenses going to slug it out for 60 minutes.
• I enjoyed the laying the smack down on mississippisaintsfan's we do this contest challenge. What I really enjoyed more was screen name BangingHebrew and hope you come back to start next season.
• The SF vs NO in the prediction format gave me the Jim Harbaugh squinty eye, chompers showing, not liking this, WTF face while typing in the prediction scores this week. Please check your scores in this recap post to make sure I entered them correctly.
• liberty_JAC is confirmed crazy but he is probably right. It is probably gonna happen and I'm sure the 49ers don't even come close to making the playoffs next year. It is just crazy.

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Wild Card Weekend results are here. For a few it's time to cheer for others it's time to groan and think about next year. We have two separate contests going on: Championship Playoffs and Bignerd Invitational Tournament. The post is going be organized slightly differently as there is more information to convey and double the result charts. Its going to start with Championship Playoff Results followed by the BIT results.

Exciting time for the 49ers and the NFL in general. Division Round Playoffs is always the best weekend of the year. I feel really confident about the game this Saturday. The 49ers convinced me pulling out the win at Seattle and think they are too tough and physical for the Saints outside a dome. Expecting a victory than it's on to Green Bay to challenge 20 years of kryptonite green nightmares. Possibly the end of the curse as the 49ers for once will be bring the deeper, more talented squad.

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The moment of truth is here! The long season of prediction battles has forged our list of steely eyed playoff contenders. Those who made the cut will go onto battle for the championship during the NFL playoffs concluding with the Super Bowl. The rest of us don't get to battle for the championship but redemption in the Bignerd Invitational Tournament.

Before we get to the winners, let us at least acknowledge the heavy competition for top loser this season. There were a couple strong candidates, or does that make them weak candidates ... well it doesn't matter. Its a judgment call on my end because people always miss a week or try to hide the last week. This years Suck 4 Luck Award (Backing Into Blackmon?) goes to mcwagner for a season's worth of bad, pathetic, please bet against these predictions. Congrats mcwagner, spending the entire offseason overseeing irrelevant, off topic community threads really paid off. You'll be receiving a mod warning for sure.

Now to the official results plus playoff instructions. I'll tearfully try to get through these.

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I thought I would make you sweat the results for awhile. Well it's here, the final week. One last weekend to make your final case for the playoffs, otherwise its BIT (Bignerd Invitational Tournament) against urnext. We did have a few playoff eliminations this week, anyone currently below 31 points, sorry it won't be possible to make the NN Prediction Game Playoffs.

A lot of big numbers were posted this week separating the field. If you are outside looking in for a playoffs spot will probably need a monster week. Still have a race for 1st place with Rossalex holding a 4 point lead on manraj2417 and teekay. Good luck to all, hopefully Fooch doesn't pull a Cowboys for a third consecutive week. Final results, playoff contestants, playoff rules and BIT invites for all next week (for those who cry quietly alone like me).

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What is this nonsense of football games being pushed to Saturday, Christmas Eve? Sundays no longer good enough for the NFL? Rain, blackouts and blizzards but no Christmas stops the show? Should a long practicing pagan like me really have to shift my weekend routine over a little holiday? Christmas wasn't even that interesting when the Christians stole it the first time. Actually the schedule shift works out on my end. Will be at mom's house for Christmas Eve and can catch the game(s) there. Whereas I have to be with the rest of relatives Sunday and even if the creepy pagan faction had a TV they would elect human sacrifice over letting me watch it.

Here is to still outside looking in and the results of Week 15.

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I could see the 49ers stinker coming from a mile away. Team hasn't improved in 6 weeks, offense stuck in the mud, division clinched, several defensive starters nursing injuries, divisional rival playing well and was due. If it wasn't for urnext copying my picks (btw, good strategy) I would have been the only one with points from the 49ers game.

Oh well, at least it put some kind of damper this year's massive point inflation. Last season's winner scored exactly 100 points, 80 points got a playoff spot. It wasn't just 24-17 predictions bloating the point totals but the 49ers managing to win almost every week. Onto the results, the final 3 weeks to make a playoff push are here. No one is safe.

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Four weeks until the NFL post season along with the illustrious Prediction Game playoffs begin. I've been crunching the numbers and surprising no one has been eliminated. Consider the worst of you the Seahawks or Cardinals, there is still a chance. CheekyMonkey is gonna need at least one 60 point week but it's not mathematically impossible. Two sixty point weeks and he might win the regular season contest. Ok, the math majors will probably point out four modest 30 point weeks will do the trick. Have you been paying attention mcwagner?

Top 16 players move onto the postseason, which is predicting the NFL post season. Does not mean the prediction contest is over for urnext and friends, we have an invitational tournament. Well actually its the same game, just you cannot play in the championship bracket. Still a postseason win is redemption. Unless you are Drew Kerr who probably has no chance considering he doesn't predict 49ers game, but he does say the Saints pass the eyeball test over the 49ers, NFC Championship game rematch with Saints at Packers, like Rocky II it will be better. Despite Ten-Man probably finishing in the Top 10 I'll probably select Rabbit T to his post season spot because he draws more attention in the comment section. More details next week.

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Week 12 seemed like forever. My last recap felt like 3 weeks ago. Preliminary response, I like the option week, it was very good to me. Any time I can trade what is the excuse now Smith for predictable Tebow, I like my chances. Now if Fooch would stop including the Titans and Bengals in every weeks game card manraj7 would actually have to predict.

We do have an impressive winner this week, groug, who submitted an outstanding 38-20 perfect score in the Pats @ Iggles game. Word has it Curtis Painter is very inspired by this. He and the Colts may just rise up as 22 1/2 point underdogs to defeat the Patriots this week. For god sakes it better be in prediction contest cause there is zero chance the game score will be anywhere near a 24-17 final. I digress, it's stretch run time. Playoff focus begins in the recap next week.

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Sorry, won't be much pontificating this week.  The post is up early to get the Week 12 Predication Games up ASAP.  We have a special case this week with the 49ers playing in a Thursday Thanksgiving game.  We always skip the Thursday games because they don't leave people much time to submit a prediction.  However its the 49ers, we cannot ignore the game either.

Here is how the contest is going to work this week.  We will have our typical five non-49ers related Sunday & Monday prediction games.  The 49ers game will contain an option.  Can either submit a prediction for the 49ers Thursday game or will be given an optional game to predict. Fooch will decide the optional game when he posts the Week 12 slate later tonight.  The 49ers game and Optional game will be scored separately but you cannot play in both, it's your pick. If you don't get your 49ers prediction in by kickoff Thursday you'll still have the optional game to fall back on.

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The best perfect prediction I've seen, DAD OF VLAD nailing the score in the Packers blowout win over the Vikings.  I'd give him 15 points if I could.  Fortunately for fantasy opponents facing Aaron Rodgers it was such a blowout the Packers were able to put in a typical crappy SEC quarterback to coast out the final quarter .. and VLAD knew this. Sorry Christian Ponder fans, Drew Kerr gets to snicker another weekend although Ponder is worse than he thought.

It's been boiling for weeks but it's finally time acknowledge the prediction contest might have a flaw here.  Clearly we all know I'm talking about urnext and his contest bottom 2.9 point average per week.  People have found ways to game the prediction contest and inflate their points because we all know his career average is 1.7 points per week.  I've spent a good amount of time studying this so let me say clearly Alexandra Caroline, Lauren Williams, Ashton Torres and Cassie Trammell are all way hotter than Kelsi Reich to reference on a Tombstone.  Finally a non-related precautionary tale, NFL teams have been able to ride the run n' shoot offense to 10 wins and playoff birth but never could win a playoff game with that system.

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I can't believe I have to write this, just want to puke.  I got a perfect score, I got perfect score, I got a perfect score ... bluck.  So you know, everyone got a perfect score. If you didn't you are a big freakin loser, that's the report.  The Bengals venturing into Tennessee to take on the mighty Titans was so thrilling everyone penciled in the same blank stare 24-17 score and it hit.

Thursday Night games start this week.  So you are aware we don't score Thursday Night games unless the 49ers are playing.  No need to rush and get your scores in this week.  You can still wait til 9:59AM PST Sunday to submit scores. Or maybe just your morning game scores and submit the rest before the afternoon games.

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Time to conclude this weeks recaps.  By now you've seen all the highlights, heard everyone's opinions on the weekend, seen the latest power rankings (cause the label of "opinion rankings" didn't score well with audiences), processed the advanced statistics and the now the conclusion coup de grace Prediction Game results. I've tried drinking tonight to put myself in a better mood, don't think its working but Workaholics kicked arse.

Think we can all agree manraj7 is ruining the prediction game.  24-17 gets him first place in the Philly blowout of Dallas?  At some point you would think karma would catch up for spamming all those cat pictures?  Not all bad news this week, urnext is no longer the cellar dweller.  The new point and laugh title holder is mcwagner although beginning next week I may have consider those who have missed only a week.

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One of the rare Wednesday afternoon Prediction Game results posts.  The delay had nothing to do with tallying the Monday Night football scores.  No on picked the Jaguars.  First time ever since I've been scoring that no points have been given out for a game.  I'm sure this had an effect on the weekly totals which are also meager.  Still it was a brutal week.   We had four games where almost everyone's prediction was in sniffing distance and had to be right on the money to score points.  The difference between scoring points and not scoring was a 23-27 prediction compared to 24-27 prediction, just brutal.

Wasn't all bad news for everyone.  urnext was outpacing the Dolphins and Colts in the Suck 4 Luck contest but might have damaged his chances posting a 5 point weekend.  So far urnext was posting scores similar to Cuban figure skater, maybe that 5 pointer is a gift from the Russian judge. Like figure skating we ought to throw out the top and bottom score to eliminate bias and corruption.

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Welcome to Late Night Tuesday Bitter Results, I am your host.  Sunday I was in a good mood.  Monday I was in a joking mood, Tuesday like I spent the entire day watching reruns of Skip Bayless rant on Cold Pizza while constipated, with a full body rash.  I wish I had something else to share here but I don't.  49ers are on bye this week.  Prediction Contest will go on without them but would appreciate it if none of you participated this week so I can pad a few points to my meager total.

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There are times when injustices need to be corrected and I should promote myself from score keeper to czar of the Prediction Game.  Do any of you really deserve points for your 49ers prediction?  Despite 90% taking the 49ers over Bucs none of your guesses came within the dart board of the actual score, yet I am dishing out points.

Something else happened this weekend that I can't let slip through the cracks.  Those so called Patriots throwback uniforms?  True, I haven't been around as many decades as the Patriots but I can assure you New England has never matched the old Patriot helmet logo with the Houston Texan jersey.  I think I see through the mini scam here.  Slightly envious of the Seahawk's lime green and the Miami Dolphin tang uniforms the Pats wanted their own Night At The Roxbury ultra cranberry colored jerseys but were unwilling to take the heat for them so promoted them as throwbacks instead of alternative uniforms.  Sadly no team will escape this epidemic, one day the 49ers will take the field wearing a special black cherry coke look.  At least the team will own up to the look.  I know good and well those pink star uniforms aren't being worn by women but couch bunked Dallas fans biting into their snuggie Sunday afternoons hoping this isn't the week Romo tosses his bi-monthly game killing interception.  Please liberate your sissy fan base and sport those hot pink disasters already.

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It has already been a good weekend for 49ers fans. The prediction contest results are here to bring more good news.  We may have set a record for perfect predictions in a weekend with a total of ... wait for it ... 9 perfect predictions.  Might of had nine perfect predictions total all last season.  With this kind of prediction point inflation someone is going to accuse me treason during next Republican Presidential debate.  I'd normally use this reference to stump for my preferred Republican presidential candidate but mcwagner is itching to toss me a third warning for the month.  But for the record the checks from 49erLou don't start rolling in til Week 13, that still leaves twelve weeks of honest competition.

Still its like 2005 all over again with the bullish point market giving everyone a bump, except of course urnext (everyone nods their head in community agreement).  Maybe our Bruin mathematical prodigy is onto something.  Or maybe bakoninerfan is running a ponzi scheme, LASVEGASNINER is a risk drunk hedge fund manager who so far has gotten lucky and Ninerfromacrossthepond is actually short selling others picks (watch out SanFranciscoKnights).  Lets count the profits.

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Its time to turn the page on the week with the Prediction Game results.  Safe to say no one predicted a perfect 49ers score of 13-8, if anyone has ever predicted a 13-8 score for any game.  While the offensive output of the contest was putrid and has been picked apart for two days, the 49ers offense might have the last laugh, all your scores sucked too.  Only one contestant scored higher than 13 points this week.  To be more accurate, only one contestant scored in the double digits.  Who was this contestant?  The lovely beecharmer who rode a perfect score in the Bills victory for this week's title.  As for the rest of you, Moran Norris is hoping you get injured, Chilo vehemently believes you should be benched, Ted Ginn Jr. always thought your predictions sucked anyways.

Lets look at the carnage.

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The 49ers lost this past week and the prediction scores are down from Week 1, coincidence homers?  Oh well, I am ready to turn the page on September's annual "How did we Lose that Game?"  Bengals are next with the potential we could be witnessing the beginnings of the Ohio Valley Defense (OVD for short) .  Dominant (Nazi) pass rushing, TE covering weak side linebackers, corners who play the run like defensive tackles and genetically altered Captain Marvel safeties who pick up receivers after the catch and carry them back to the end zone for a pick 6 .  History will forget this defense actually started on the West Coast with the 49ers.  A little insider tip, pick the Bengals.

Maybe I sound bitter.  Maybe after 2 weeks I have a total of 2 points.   Projecting ahead that means I'll end up with a final score of 17 points for the season.  I haven't had this much trouble scoring since ... screw it, I'm bitter.  Let your wild, superior Prediction Game minds finish that thought.  Onto the results.

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Welcome back to another spectacular season of the Prediction Game.  A full 17 week season with the Top 16ish going to the playoffs to crown our 2011 champion.  Last years champion 49erLou returns to defend his iron thrown.  Lou after wallowing in mediocrity most of the season rose like a phoenix from the ashes to eviscerate all opponents.  Chasing Lou once again is our army of regulars.  I noticed urnext bothered to get his picks in Week 1 this season. I guess he is going all in without the excuses.  Even my lovely little bee manged to fall out of bed before 5pm Sunday to get a few of her picks in.  Alas, welcome all new comers to the game.   Let me be first to say to who the [site decorum] are these guys?  They dominated Week 1.

I'm going to leave the rest of the recap as vanilla as the 49ers offensive game plan.  I'm already planning a revamp of the Top 5 Winners which will probably arrive next week.  Also the leader board will soon denote those holding a playoff seed.  Finally I'm kicking around a visual scoring explanation.   Typically Prediction Game results will be posted on Tuesday evenings.  There will be times where it will be a day late because of work schedule (like this week).  Ok, lets get to it.

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I know the tittle may have many of our NinersNations.com business owners and avid readers already foaming at mouth for a rebuttal, but please hear me out. In the drama that is the NFL off season sides are being drawn, anti player, anti owner, and anti everyone I just want football. At first I was very much in the anti everyone just give me football camp, however, the more I heard and read the more I became anti owner. Its not that I am pro player, because I'm not, its just that that the Owners, their commissioner and the Jeff Pash have done a lot to push me away. Please follow the jump to hear my reasons, or go ahead and post your replies why I'm a money grubbing fan boy of the communist party players.

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Congrats to 49erLou for winning our Prediction Championship.  Much like the Packers 49erLou was only in the mix late in season before going on tear that wouldn't end until crowned champion.  I'm not sure who the past winners are but Niners Nation will have to scribe your name down somewhere to eternalize you forever.  Hats off to the other finalist who made this a nail bitter: leaping_larry, illini49er and wjackalope who braved picking the underdog Pittsburgh.  Of course thanks to everyone who participated in the game throughout the season, it makes this such a special contest on our blog.

Our BIT winner is jtoj slightly edging 49erLou from a Double Rainbow Championship.  jtoj needed every last point to fight off 49erLou for the best playoff predictor.  We won't be scribing your name on the website but I'm sure someone can dig up a kitten gif involving a trophy for ya.  Congrats to jtoj who was best known for patrolling the prediction contest bullying those who picked against the 49ers, now add the BIT title to your mantle. Thanks all for the big jump in participation for the Super Bowl!

Not much to write about after this ... just going to post the scores and roll the credits.  Thanks for a great season. 2011 Go 49ers!  I like Harbaugh's offense matching up against all the 3-4 defenses in the league.

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In case you missed it Sando wrote a thoughtful article about the 49ers fall from grace titled What happened to the flagship 49ers.  The beauty of the article was Sando turned to 49ers fans to share their insight and astute observations to fill in the details.

I can't really cite the entire article so I'll give a quick summation (the link to the article is provided above).  In short, the consensus thesis was the 49ers fell from grace because the team lost their owner and in turn lost their traditions, style of play, key leaders including the front office and link to great players of the past.

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Thanks for remaining patient as I've delayed getting the results published.  The good news is I still have my job.  More good news, I still have my second job.  Maybe I might be able to keep this job.  Now that the good news is squared away lets look at the bad news or maybe it's great news.  Sneaking a peak at the results it was feast or famine Championship playoff weekend so you probably already know if you are moving on ... so lets get to it.

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If you haven't noticed the Fan Post section has been moved to a different page section by SB Nation.  Assuming you found this post, here are some helpful instructions you can pass along to a confused friend.

1. In your browser URL type: http://www.ninernation.com/
2. Look at the right hand column of the page, the Fan Shot area has replaced the Fan Post area. This is below sponsored ads including the Sporting News poll (who knew they were still in business?).
3. To find the Fan Post keep looking at the Right hand column and scroll down.
4. Scroll down past the NN Facebook plugin ...
5. Scroll down past the NN Recent Posts section ...
6. Scroll down past the RSS feed links ...
7. Scroll down past the NN Featured Stories section (last update was 5 months ago) ...
8. Scroll down past the 49ers 2010 schedule ...
9. Scroll down past the NN Phone Widget link ...
10. Scroll down past the SB Nation 49ers News section (Excellent for reading 1/4 of a news story & no comments) ...
11. Scroll down past the SB Nation Featured News Story section (Excellent if you like gigantic headline text with one blah paragraph) ...
12. Scroll down past Associated Press links including related Yahoo.com, AOL Fanhouse, US Today (never has thing), National Football Post, CSN Bay Area (Maiocco) stories ...
13. Scroll down past another ad section ...
14. Scroll down past horrible/obvious/ugly link farm graphic links labeled "Web Stuff" (how is that page rank coming along?) ...
15. Scroll down past the page Footer (notice the NN Coaching Staff list) ...
16. Scroll down past the very bottom of the Absolute Coke Zero Bloody Mary Sprint Phone Service background hotlink ad ...
17. Keep scrolling down ...
18. Keep scrolling down so more ...
19. Look underneath your desk ...
20. Take a jack hammer and break up the concrete foundation underneath your desk. May need to remove carpet, tile, wood flooring, etc first ...
21. Take a shovel and dig a 6 foot hole ...
22. Crawl in the hole pointing the flashlight at the bottom, lift up the final ODDSShark metal sign ... there are the Fan Posts!

Divisional Round prediction game results ... for the both the Playoff Pool and BIT

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Back in the throttle for Wildcard Weekend.  It lived up to it's reputation and followed it's historic form.  Saturday's games were wild, surprising and close while Sunday's games were semi predictable duds.  If you rode the historical trends you did well, if not you could be facing elimination.

There was a slight a change made in the middle of the week to the BIT contest.  It was pointed out Playoff Pool contestants were allowed in the free for all tournament in the past.  I sided with the argument, therefore you will find Playoff Pool contestants also competing in the BIT.

Wildcard Weekend prediction game results ... for the both the Playoff Pool and BIT

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First I'd like to thank everyone who participated in our little game making it a fun season.  Seeing what the 49ers can do you'll understand why we play the prediction game.  I'd especially like to thank those who stuck to it despite a lack of success early or lack of success overall.  Keep up the good work and your results will turn!  Our playoff tournaments will start shortly and please come back next season.   Also I'd like to thank those who participated in the comment sections, it's always a reward for me.

It's time for the main event, Week 17 final prediction results ...

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